Over the weekend, I had started writing a post titled “When Will [economist Paul] Krugman Have His Creationist Epiphany?” It was inspired by a comment left on a Krugman post about “the Great Ignorance which seems to have overtaken much of the economics profession — the “rediscovery” of old fallacies about deficit spending and interest…

Yesterday’s article by Gina Kolata about cancer research mistakes a symptom–caution due to a perceived lack of funding–for the disease, which is the symbiosis between academia and the NIH. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of research should involve academics. But the priorities of NIH have become overwhelmed by the priorities of academia. I think…

I told you this would happen. I used to give a lot of talks about antibiotic resistance, and when I did so, I would often use a cartoon as a humorous way to portray the severity of the resistance problem:

I think some people don’t realize the extent to which movement conservativism is not about policy, but an existential sense of self. I realize that I come across as pretty partisan, but, for me, it’s ultimately about objectives: if I want a public option for healthcare, it’s because I think it will improve healthcare. If…

During the battle over the stimulus package, Republican Senator John McCain tweeted: $650,000 for beaver management in North Carolina and Mississippi – how does one manage a beaver? I argued at the time that it’s quite possible that $650,000 to better understand how to stop the economic damage that beavers cause is a good use…

Before I dive in, I really do want good news. But misinterpreting bad economic news as good news doesn’t help. You might have heard that, last week, jobless claims dropped (i.e., the number of workers filing for unemployment benefits decreased). This is a good thing, right? Not so fast. Barry Ritholtz: